DEVELOPMENTS

Hamas leader killed: Israeli border guards killed Hamas commander Abed al-Majid Dudin near the village of Dura southeast of Hebron in the West Bank. He had been wanted since 1995 for two bus attacks, one that killed four people in Jerusalem and another that killed six in Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv.

Jerusalem theater shut: Israeli police closed a Palestinian theater in East Jerusalem, forcing foreign writers taking part in an international literature festival to move elsewhere for the second time in a week. The closure was the latest in recent weeks against what Israel sees as attempts by the Palestinian Authority to host political activities in the city, where both Israelis and Palestinians have staked claims to have their national capital.

WASHINGTON – Gingerly trying to advance Mideast peace, President Barack Obama yesterday challenged Israel to stop settlement construction in the West Bank on the same day the Israelis rejected that demand. Obama pushed Palestinians for progress, too.

“I am confident that we can move this process forward,” Obama said after meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House. The president said that means both sides must “meet the obligations that they've already committed to” – an element of the peace effort that has proved elusive for years.

Earlier in the day, Israel rejected blunt U.S. requests to freeze Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank, a territory that would make up the Palestinian state, along with the Gaza Strip, as part of a broader peace deal.

In strong language, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had said Wednesday that Obama wants a halt to all settlement construction, including “natural growth.” Israel uses that term for new housing and other construction that it says will accommodate the growth of families living in existing settlements.

“Normal life in those communities must be allowed to continue,” he said, noting Israel has already agreed not to build new settlements and to remove some tiny, unauthorized settler outposts. Regev said the fate of the settlements would be determined in peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

With that as a backdrop, Obama said part of Israel's obligations include “stopping settlements.” But he also struck a hopeful tone.

Obama said that he had pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the settlement matter last week at the White House, and that the Israeli leader needs to work through the issue with his own government.

“It's important not to assume the worst but to assume the best,” Obama said.

The president also pushed Palestinians to hold up their end, including increased security in the West Bank to give Israelis confidence in their safety.

Obama said he told Abbas that the Palestinians must find a way to halt the incitement of anti-Israeli sentiments that are sometimes expressed in schools, mosques and public arenas. “All those things are impediments to peace,” Obama said.

The Palestinian leader said “we are fully committed to all of our obligations” under the peace framework known as the road map.

Obama, as did predecessor George W. Bush, embraces a multifaceted Mideast peace plan that calls for a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

On Thursday in Cairo, Obama will deliver a message to the Muslim world to try to repair relations that frayed badly under the Bush administration.